EUGENE, Ore.– Due to the growing issue of staffing shortages, some local police departments, and sheriff offices say the response times to calls have gone up over the last year.
Chief Chris Skinner with the Eugene Police Department said they’re down about 18 police officers and adding on open professional positions. That makes their total open positions round up to 30.
‘It’s not uncommon during this time to not have the numbers that we’re hoping to have, but we are working hard, and we are getting creative, and we are finding ways to find the right people to do this. I think the point I’d like to make is that we are not going to lower our standards to try and get more police officers on,” Skinner said.
Skinner said things have changed when it comes to responding to calls, which is part of the reason why they can’t respond to all of them.
“It’s really interesting when you think about the evolution of policing and the types of calls we’re going to. What we’re seeing are more calls that take a multi-car response than any time in my career,” Skinner said.
Skinner said in today’s society they have to send two or three cars on one call because of how dangerous they’ve become. He said they’re also spending more time on the calls.
“We need to be able to do the really good investigations, and it just takes more time to do that, and it’s just taking more time to do that because of where technology is today. So, you take all that and this collision of a shortage in staff, and it’s just a collision course for a worst-case scenario,” Skinner said.
However, he said he’s hopeful about heading into the new year.
“I’d like this community to know that this police department is deeply committed to their safety and committed to dealing with the problems we’re facing,” Skinner said.
Gabriel Fabrizio with the Coos County Sheriff’s Office said they’re having a hard time keeping the ranks filled.
“A lot of it is public sentiment, some of the people we’re talking to are basically saying it’s not fun, the pride isn’t there, people don’t like cops, and we’re kind of used to that but at the same time, a lot of the respect is going away from the field which is unfortunate,” Fabrizio said.
Fabrizio said they’re now seeing a huge ripple effect, especially within the jail.
“People understand that we have almost half of the current beds we have are filled with high-level offenders,” Fabrizio said.
Due to low staff, they are forced to run the jail at only half its capacity. He said now when someone comes in with a lesser crime, they aren’t going to be lodged.
“We aren’t going to release someone who is accused of homicide in order to keep someone who’s accused of graffiti. That’s understood on the community, so the fear of criminalization just isn’t there,” Fabrizio said.
Fabrizio said many officials have even left the industry entirely.
“Some of them have years in this, and in the exit interview, they say people don’t like us, ‘I want to go do something different,’ and finding qualified people to replace them is proving to be a challenge,” Fabrizio said.
In Lane County, Sheriff Harrold said back in the 1970s they had over 100 budgeted deputies to provide countywide patrol. Today, they only have 25 budgeted deputies, and the county’s population has increased by over 175,000 residents.